12.22.2015

big things and a little help

It's ridiculous how long I'm going between postings these days. I guess Instagram in its simplicity and immediacy has my heart. But I want to share some big happenings here, professionally speaking.

In August I was granted a book deal. A BOOK DEAL!!! I am currently writing my first book on paper flowers. It's crazy. What a dream come true. The title is (for now) Papel: The Fine Art of Botanical Paper Craft, which pretty much says it all. Guess what? That giant peony tutorial many, many visitors to my blog come here for will be in the book, as well as dozens and dozens of wonderful, magical flowers and projects to use them for. I could not be more excited about this!

In September I attended my very first artist residency in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Best eight days of my life? Pretty much. As an artist and as a mother, to get that kind of solace and time to focus was just incredible, and to have it on my home turf, even more amazing. Eternally grateful to the people at Olde Orchard Farm and my family for giving me that opportunity.

In October I moved into my first art studio! If you were following me at all in 2014, you would know that my giant botanical work was not fitting in with small apartment living, and that it was a daily struggle. I cannot tell you how much better it is for all of us to not have the mess here, to not have to clean up after myself when I am done for the day, the space we've gained here at home, and most importantly, I've gained some sort of work-life separation and balance. That probably won't be true much longer as my work load is HUGE for the next eight months, but it's been great up to now!

In November I started my fundraising campaign to help support the work I am bringing to a major art museum in San Francisco next May. Not sure if I mentioned this here on this blog, but I have been awarded an artist residency at an incredible museum for all of May 2016. Incredible. Still can't believe it. I am also bringing as much work as I can create between now and then to exhibit. I have big plans. Those plans mean no more working on commission and teaching workshops for the next five months, which is extremely hard on me financially, but the only way I can have the time needed to create enough large scale work. (Each piece is taking me upwards of 200 hours to complete now.) This is such a huge honor, and along with exhibiting, I will be working with the public daily on a SUPER big floral piece. It's going to be so fun, so exciting.

So, I am seeking help, turning over every stone, asking every friend and client and anyone else I can think of, and you, my readers, who probably are not the same readers I had three or four years ago when I was just getting started with the paper art and was mostly blogging about donuts and my family. I am fiscally sponsored by San Francisco's Intersection for the Arts, which means donations to my project are tax deductible. I am going to post the link here, just in case there is a chance anyone reading is interested in supporting this project, and here's a little bit about the project.

By the way, anyone who contributes gets their name on my donor plaque at both exhibits, and my eternal gratitude!

In short:

This project supports "Nature Constructed", an exhibit and interactive artist residency occurring at a major art museum in San Francisco for the month of May 2016. (This exhibit will also travel to the east coast for an exhibit outside of Boston, MA in August 2016.) Through both the artist residency and the exhibits, I intend to address some of the effects of our changing environment in an aesthetic and thought provoking way. I have a large, built-in audience at both venues, and through public exhibition, daily in-studio discussion and creation of three-dimensional artwork with the public, my goals are to research and represent through my sculpture select effects of the breakdown of our environment on botanical elements of nature, and equally as important to me, to learn about the public's tolerance of the representation of these deformities and irregularities when portrayed in art.

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ABOUT ME:

I am an architect, mother, wife and native East Coaster living in San Francisco, and the paper artist behind papel SF. My work can be seen at The Jealous Curator, Colossal, My Modern Metropolis, Apartment Therapy, and the Martha Stewart Living and Williams-Sonoma blogs, among others. Thank you for reading!

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PAPEL SF

Tiny and giant works in paper. Registration open now for fall and winter workshops.

101 Donut Pan Ideas

We've thought of 101 uses for our donut pans, and we're going to make them all!